Product sourcing, direct from the factory
Fifteen-plus years of manufacturer relationships across mainland China and Asia, plus supplier networks in Mexico, Europe, and Canada. We find the factory that actually makes your product, verify it's real, negotiate the terms, and manage the run through to a container on the water.
Everything between an idea and a container
Factory identification
We search our own network first, then the platforms and the trade show floor. You get a shortlist of real manufacturers with capability for your product, not a list of trading companies reselling someone else's line.
Supplier vetting
Business license verification, factory audits, capability assessment, and a check on whether they're the manufacturer or a middleman. Our associates in China and Asia can walk the floor in person.
Sampling & specification
Sample rounds until the product is right, with written specifications that hold the factory to what you actually agreed. That document is what prevents the argument later.
Negotiation
Unit price, MOQ, payment terms, lead time, tooling ownership, and exclusivity where it's worth having. Fifteen years of knowing what a factory will actually move on.
Quality control
We engage SGS to run pre-production, during-production (DUPRO), and pre-shipment (PSI) inspections. Our client pays for the inspector, not the factory, which is what makes the report worth reading. You get it before the balance payment goes out, not after.
Freight & import
Freight forwarding, Incoterms, customs clearance, duties, and delivery into one of our own US fulfillment centers, or wherever else you need it.
Private label & custom
Custom tooling, packaging, branding, and product modification. Your product, your brand, your mold. Not a generic item with a sticker on it.
Multi-country sourcing
When tariffs, lead times, or risk say don't put everything in one country: Vietnam, India, Turkey, Mexico, Europe, and Canada as alternatives or as a second source.
Ongoing supply management
Reorders, supplier performance tracking, and problem resolution, with someone in the right time zone to make the call.
Four kinds of buyer, four different jobs
A sourcing agent does the same sequence for everyone. What changes is which part is hard, where the money is at risk, and what the first conversation needs to be about. Whether you are an Amazon seller, a startup, a private label brand or developing something that does not exist yet, the job is a different shape.
A sourcing agent for Amazon sellers
Sourcing for Amazon has requirements that have nothing to do with manufacturing and everything to do with what Amazon will accept at the dock. FNSKU labeling, polybagging and suffocation warnings, carton labels and weight limits, and a shipment plan that matches what actually turns up. A factory that has never shipped into FBA will get this wrong for free, and the cost lands on you as a receiving problem months later.
We specify prep requirements into the purchase order so they are the factory's obligation, and where prep is easier done stateside we do it in our own warehouses instead.
A sourcing agent for startups
The hard part here is rarely finding a factory. It is that every decision is being made for the first time, in an order that matters, with money that is finite. Tooling before spec, deposit before a golden sample, or an MOQ agreed before anyone worked out what it costs to hold that much stock.
What a first-time importer needs most is somebody saying "not yet" at the right moments. That is most of the value in the first order and almost none of it in the fourth.
A private label sourcing agent
You are buying something the factory already makes and putting your name on it. That makes the sourcing faster and the differentiation thinner, so the leverage moves to packaging, tolerances and exclusivity, and to whether the factory will hold a specification for you rather than shipping their standard line with your logo.
The questions that matter: what exactly is being changed from their stock product, is it written down, and what stops them selling the identical modification to the next buyer.
Product development from scratch
A drawing, or a 3D print, or a rough idea and a competitor to point at. This is the longest and least predictable path, and the one where tooling decisions made early are expensive to reverse late.
It needs a factory chosen for engineering rather than price, more sampling rounds than anyone budgets for, and clarity in writing about who owns the tooling and the design before the first mold is cut.
Not sure which one you are? Say what you have got so far, in whatever shape it is in, and we will tell you which conversation this is.
From brief to container
Frequently asked
Do you work with trading companies?
Only when there's a real reason to. Our default is to find the actual manufacturer and cut the intermediary out, because that gap is usually where your margin went. Telling one from the other on a profile page is a skill, and our guide to when you need an agent walks through how we do it.
What are your minimum order quantities?
MOQ is set by the factory and the product, not by us, and negotiating it down is part of the job. Send us the product and we will quote the real range for that category.
Can you source outside China?
Yes. Mainland China is our deepest network, but we source across other Asian countries and from Mexico, Europe, and Canada, which is often the right answer when tariffs or lead times bite.
Who owns the tooling and the molds?
You should, and we negotiate for that. It's one of the most commonly missed terms and it's what stops a factory from holding your product hostage.
How do you charge for sourcing?
Per project, based on complexity, the number of factories to vet, and the sampling rounds involved. You get the model and the number in writing before anything starts. We also wrote up the three ways sourcing agents charge and what to ask before you sign with any of them.
Can you also ship and store the goods?
Yes. That's the fulfillment side of the business, out of our own US facilities. Most sourcing clients end up using it.
Tell us what you want made
Send us the product, the target cost, and the volume. We'll tell you whether it's realistic and what it would take.
- No obligation. A quote is a quote.
- Straight answers about whether we're the right fit.
- One point of contact across every service you use.
Tell us what you're making
Product, quantity and where you are with it. We'll come back with scope, timeline and a real number.
Stop paying for the middleman's margin
Direct factory relationships, verified suppliers, and inspections at every stage of production.